for the seasonal burners here, when will/ have you fired up for the season?

[rowerwet]

with the recent cold nights we have had around here my oil furnace has come on some mornings, gets me thinking about when I should start up the OPB, I don't want to be burning pellets idling all day for a few hours of heat a night.
All of you OWB users have a similar problem, I was wondering when you tend to start burning, is it based on the weather forecast mostly, or do other factors play also?

 

[Duetech]

My gasifier has been running for about three weeks as we have had some cool nights. My dhw is heated by the EKO40 as well. I load the EKO about half full late in the evening to heat the water and whatever is required for the house (72*F) and shut it off in the morning. Technically though my heating season starts when the daytime temps go low to mid 60's and the nights go below 45.

 

[sgschwend]

In my area this is a very nice time of year, warm, clear and often no fog.

Our heating season will begin sometime in October and be going in earnest at the end of November.

 

[stee6043]

I don't think I'll burn my first load until the first of November. If I need to heat a day or two in October with natural gas I will. I hate to spend a weekend getting my tanks up to temp only to have a 70 degree day three days later. I want to get the most out of my wood so I wait until the house needs heat pretty well all day long...

 

[abj1969]

i probably won't have to burn for another moth or two.

 

[Sting]

Not until the degree days drop to 40. Degree days above 35 make the appliance idle fire too long --wasting fuel.

Ill burn NG to keep the chill off -

 

[MrEd]

Woodstove has been running several days per week, but the boiler is probably a few weeks off before I need to fire it up.

 

[rowerwet]

I fired up on tue due to forecast temps, today (sat) I added the shell HX I made last year into the water supply for my tankless Hot water heater, now I have to adjust the mixing valve or redo the supply piping to fix hot/cold issues in the shower. Glad I used sharkbites, makes for plumbing that is infinitely reconfigurable.

 

[mtnmizer]

Last Monday's high was 81, today it was 37 with 6 inches of snow. I started the boiler
and have had a couple of fires so far. On Saturday there were
high winds which blew a tree down over the power line so I got
to run the boiler via generator..very nice.

I heated the radiant in the basement slab which lasts for a day or two. I need to get the
storage up and running before it gets too cold. Ol Man Winter is early
this year. 7+ cords of very dry fir split,stacked and covered by the basement door
with another 15 cords in the rounds nearby..

I recently brought home a draft cross horse to skid some
lodgepole pine with-- gentle giant, but thats 'nother story. MM

 

[mwk1000]

I have had 3 burns so far starting 3 weeks ago ( Mid September ) when we hit the forties at night. The large tank has been nice. The burn lasts about a week. Now it is cooler and lasting 3-4 days. I expect I can do 2 times a week for most of Oct-Nov.

With the mild outside temps I can push the tank much lower and still be useful to stretch another day before burning again. I have used it to as low as 80-85 but the furnaces will run for a very long time when the tank is that low. That's how I know its time to burn again, when the furnace fan run times start to grow longer and longer until it annoys me.


EKO60
1500 Gal Storage.

 

[stee6043]

I have used it to as low as 80-85 but the furnaces will run for a very long time when the tank is that low. That's how I know its time to burn again, when the furnace fan run times start to grow longer and longer until it annoys me.

Holy smokes....85 degrees? That's amazing. My furnace fan seems to run non-stop with anything below 120 or so. I suppose I haven't really tried it in the true shoulder season but 85 still seems super low to me. You're a lucky man! What kind of HX do you have in your furnace? Something fancy?

 

[mwk1000]

The house was at 70 and the tank was done at 82 degrees top and bottom. Probably from running for hours. So that is about the extreme limit. I notice when it starts getting truly cold I can go to 100. When we hit the sub zero 110 is the floor. I have 20x20 heat exchangers 1" in/out in two furnaces. But the house is only 4 years old and was built with new propane 95% efficent furnaces. That means they are designed to move higher volumes of air at lower temperature and the duct work is designed to match. I "stole" the low fan speed wire (It was not used ) for my relay to the tank. That moves about 1100 CFM if memory serves leaving the propane two stage with medium and high as it was installed.

That is what is nice about these mild temps outside the house hold the heat better because the temp dif is low.

Buy yes I have read many others that are like you and haqve a narrower temp band to play with. I canot get my tank over 172 ( so far ) but I have not really cared since I gained so much on the bottom end. I figured it's better for longevity of my DIY tank anyways.

 

[ManiacPD]

Not any time soon with oil at $2 a gallon!

 

[Grover59]

I will not start until November, no need to, even if it gets colder, I will burn oil for now, we are not home during the day so we can keep it cool all day, just have to turn it up to take the chill off.

Steve

 

[CowboyAndy]

we have been averaging almost every night for the last 2 weeks.

as soon as daytime temps are in the low 60's we need it at night. usually just a short hot fire before bed.

 

[Tony H]

Just using NG for the time being. With no storage it's a waste to run the boiler until we get some sustained cold weather but it won't be long they are predicting lows this weekend in the 30's